Oil well pump



J. C. VROMAN OIL WELL PUMP Filed March 6, 1929 Jafi'oman I operate, a one-way standing -"valve iPatented May 12, 1931 w g s'mras tonne. mm, or cHmsnaoxnAHoMA. nssrenoa or own-um 'ro ED n'ronns,

a or TULSA, oxmrromn OIL WELL PUMP Application filed March 6.1929. Serial no. 844,779.

This invention relates generally to means for compensating for the wear upon the packing of aplun'er-or the'like, particularly the plunger a deep. well pump.

Plungers or other cylindrical sliding bodies require'packing around and along their outer surfaces in order to prevent leakage between same and the walls of the cylinder in which they operate and are more or less short-lived as the packing, which is under considerable friction, soon wears out thereby necessitating a dismantling of the parts, ranged, in order to put in new packing.

The usual type of packing or packing cups forms .an extra-tight fit in the working barrel. "when new but gradually loosens through wear until eventually so much of the fluid or oil is permitted to by-pass that new packing is required. Moreover, the ordinary packing cu s may crease under the heavier pressures requently encountered in the deeper wells thus allowing the fluid to by-pass the traveling valve. Under this condition the packing should be immediately renewed.

Myinvention provides means whereby the stated conditions are automatically relieved and the proper fit between the packing and the cylinder or barrel maintained.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1- is a side view of my improved piston, I

. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a larger scale on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken onthe line 3-3 of-Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional 4-4 of Fig. 2.

In the dra "ng, the reference numeral 1 designates any suitable working barrel in which my improved piston or plunger 1(nay no seated in the working view taken on the line shown) being snugly I barrel below the plunger, as usual.

The plunger comprises a'travelin'g valve 2 which may be of any preferred type and a tube or central member 3threa ed into the up er end of the valve ca e, which is forms with external fiattene areas 4 to as now generally constructed and ar-' is disposed within the ram.

be engaged by a turning tool.- Packing 5 surrounds the tube and engages snugly and firmly with the working barrel 1' when the and a sleeve, 6 rests" extends upwardly. so L plunger is operating, upon the packing and as to form a hollow shell within ,which is a concentric tubular ram 7. I threaded onto the upper extremity of the ram and the lower end. of the sucker or pump'rod is attached to the cage, the ram being. formed below its upper extremity with flattened areas 9 to be engagedby a turning tool. The upper end portion of the tube 3 The valve 2 allows the fluid to pass upwardly into the tube 3. When the plunger is raised within the working barrel, the valve closes and prevents the oil from remaining stationary and propels or forces it upward- .ly. On the down stroke the standing valve (not shown) is closed and the entrapped oil within the worln'ng barrel must pass upwardly through the traveling valve 2 and A 'cage '8. is

of the tube is provided with. openings 10 I in its walls to be engaged by an internal spanner when it is desired to; remove the tube from its threaded seat, Similaropenings 40 are formed through the ramand these openings may be caused to register to receive a pin whereby the tube and the ram may be locked together when repacking.

The oil now travels upwardly through the openings 12 in the cage 8. On the tube 3', near its top, is an external shoulder 13 which abuts and rests inner surfaceof the ram.

Thus, when the string of pump rods is the prime mover located pulled upwardly b t the cage is lifted as on the earthssur ace,

the socket of the lowest pump .rod is rigidly fastened thereto, and the ram,being screwed on the shoulder 14 on the into the bottom of the cage, must also move upwardly. This upward motion of therani is transmitted to the tube 3 through'the shoulders 13 and14'.

, The packing, which may be' composed or .formed of'a single unit or several units, is-

held firmly down upon its seat, as the v is - which are housed between the ram and the a sleeve abuts the external annularshoulder 16 on the ram when the plunger is in its fully loaded position. Thesleeve has a ring 41 on its inner surface at its upper extremity which coacts with the lower end of the ram to prevent separation of the sleeve and the ram. Thus, there is no danger of spilling. the hard steel" balls, indicated at 19,

sleeve, when the unit has been removed from the well'and is being inverted and shook during its reloading process. The ram is provided with an external annular flange 20 at its lower end, and said flange slides within and snugly fits against the interior of'the sleeve 6. This flange 20 has four passageways 21 therethrough which are traveled by the flowing elements or balls 19. These flowing elements or units are preferably globular" in shape and are formed of hard material, such as steel balls. They ma be of different sizes according to the size 0 the ,valve or even a number of difierent sizes may be used in a single valve.

'The bottom surface of the flange 20 and the top and bottom surfaces of the flange- 15 are all case hardened. These surfaces must he very hard and they transmit large forces during the ordinary operation of the plunger within its barrel. Also during the installation of plungers of this character it is customary to let the plunger hit the bottom of the working barrel in order that the pump may be placed at thcproper distance therefrom and when this occurs the entire weight of the string of pump rods falls upon the packing. The same manipulation may be used in order to expand my packing which may be formed of lead, although usually the shocks occasioned b ordinary operation are suificient to cause t e packing to expand in the desired manner.

The packing is shown as consisting of a series of washers formed of lead or -the like,

' resting on-a lead collar 23-which is tapered downwardly and provided externally with one or more longitudinal grooves 24; which facilitate radial expansion of the dollar. The inside surface 25 of the collar 23 is also tapered, so that the upper-inner part of the collar stands slightly away from the tube and this permits a readier expansion of the packing; The tapered formation of the packing also aids in the introduction of the plunger hits .the bottom of the working barrel, expansion of the packing occurs due to the impact or blow thereon and thus the packing is expanded into proper contact with the Walls of the working barrel for efficient'operation. A11 annular rib or flange 26. on the lower end of the packing collar 23 is designed to fit within the circular recess 27 in a tapered surface 28 at the top of the cage of the valve 2 and thus an extremely efficient joint is obtained between the packing and the top of the valve, The upper edge 29 of the packing collar is preferably flared. It must be understood that, if desired, the collar 23 may be long enough to fill the entire space between the valve cage and the sleeve 6 around the tube 3 or the arrangement of the washers and the collar reversed with the uppermost washer shaped to accommodate the r1b 26. 1 1 When the force pulling the string of pump rods upwardly ceases, gravity acts upon both the long column of oil and the string of rods. Thus one force is exerted by the oil and another force by the rods.

The pressure of the oil acts on the several plunger into the Working barrel. When the projected areas of the several parts at the bottom of the well. For example, the valve ball, dotted in Fig. 1, has a net pressure on it which is a function of the size of the hole which it covers. Similarly, the 'oil pressure will be distributed among the several parts and finally all of the force will be again concentratedon whatsoever supports the bottom of the valve.

' Part of the force exerted by the pressure of the oil acts on the central portion of the v plunger, such as the tube 3, but the greater part of the force pushes down upon the proected area of the cage 8 and its depending parts. Furthermore, this force is augmented by the weight of the pump rods which bear directly upon the top of the cage.

Now the latter force'is the force which I utilize in my novel selfrpacking piston.

This force is transmitted through the cage 8, ram 7, steel balls 19, and sleeve 6. 1 Here the force is made to perform work upon the relatively soft packing by expanding it rabarrel above the lower standing valve is at a direct right angle to the direction in which the actual expansion of the packing occurs.

- Thus, the radial force of the packing against slightly downwardly relative to the flange 20 of the ram and this allows a small reservoir or s ace to form between them. Immediately the small elements or balls under the effect of gravity travel along the passageways 21 and wedge under the flange '20. Thus, the unit above the packing keeps increasing in'length as the packing decreases in length, and, hence, part-of the pressure of the oil and all of the pressure of the rods, as previously set forth in detail, is used as a pushing agent for the expansion of the packing.

When it is eventually desired to remove theplunger from the well, it is done in the usual manner. Next, the plunger is inverted and all of the balls will run back into the chamber or reservoir formed between the flange 20 and the shoulder 30 on the ram. The sleeve 'is thereby allowed to slide against the shoulder 16 on the ram and the center tube will move'relativel downward until the opening 10 registers w1th. the open ing 40, whereupon a pin may be inserted through the openin s to hold the tube stationary while repac ing or disassembling.

The ring 41 is a spring rin and the upper end ofthe sleeve is recesse slightly to receive the ring. In assembling the parts, the

ring is sprung on the ram and the sleeve is then pushed up over the ram, the central tube being inserted as desired. With the tube in place, the balls may be entered between the sleeve and the ram, and the sleeve then caused to engage the ring which is thereupon welded or riveted in place. The ring, as shown, has an internal diameter less than the external diameter of the flange 20 so that, when the ring has been secured, separation of the sleeve and the ram cannot occur.

From the above description, it will be seen that I have invented a novel plunger, the

use of which results in one of those economies so essential and so desired in all modern fields of industry.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In a deep well pump, a plunger consisting of a central tube having an external shoulder on one end and lockin means on its other end, a ram slidably tted about the tube and having an internal shoulder abutting the shoulder on the tube to support the tube, said ram being constructed at its upper end to be connected to a pump rod 7 and having an externally reduced portion,

balls about said reduced portion of the ram, a sleeve slidably mounted on said tube and encircling the balls and the ram, the lower end of the sleeve and the lower end of the ram defining a normally closed chamber about the tube, the reduced portion of said ram being connected with said closed chamber by means of a passageway large enough to readily allow the balls to traverse same, and packing surrounding the tube below the sleeve and held in place by the locking means on the end of the tube.

2. In a deep well pump, a plunger comprising a tube, packing surrounding the tube, a tubular ram slidably mounted upon the upper end portion of the tube, means onsaid tube and said ram to prevent the ram from sliding oil the top of the tube, said ram having an annular groove in its outer face, a sleeve slidably mounted on the tube between the packing and the ram and having an outer wall extending upwardly about the ram whereby said groove forms an en- -cl0sed reservoir, hard metal balls free in the reservoir, and a duct in the ram connecting the reservoirwith the space between the bottom of the ram and the sleeve to permit the balls to lodge in said space and compensate for separation of the sleeve and the ram when the packing wears.

3. In a deep well pump, a plun er comprising a tube, a ram surrounding t e upper portion of the tube, and slidable thereon,

. means to prevent excessive upward movement of the ram relative to the tube, said ram having an outstanding flange with vertical holes therethrough at its lower end and-having means at its upper end for connection with a hoisting means, a sleeve slidably encircling the tube below the ram and having an upwardly extending shell housing the ram and the flange thereon whereby two chambers are formed, balls in the upper chamber of such size that they may freely flow through the aforesaid holes to the lower chamber between the ram and the sleeve, packing surrounding the tube below the sleeve, the sleeve resting at its lower end upon the packing, and means for holding the packing in place.

4.; A plunger for deep well pumps comprising, a tube, a ram slidably fitted about the upper portion of the tube, means whereby the ram will su port the tube, soft metal packing arrange about the lower portion of the tube and held thereon, a sleeve loosely fitted about the tube and the ram and resting on the packing, and means acting constantly between the ram and the sleeve to maintain their relatively elongated relation whereb operation of the ram will automatically e ect expansion of the packing.

'5. A plunger for deep well pumps comprising a tube, a packing fitted about the tube and held thereon, a ram slidably fitted about the upper portion of the tube, a sleeve loosely. fitted on the tube and housing the lower portibn of the ram, said sleeve having an internal flange at its lower end resting on the packing and projecting under the lower end of the ram, and hard elements stored between, the ram and the sleeve and freely movable into the space between the lower end of the ram and the flange n the sleeve to fill said space and maintainelongated relation of the ram and the sleeve.

In testimony whereof I affix my signatug'e.

JOHN C. V OMANIL. 

